Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:53
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:The question is: what else does he have other than academics?
They are not just math and computers. The strongest spike is definitely CS/AI/building, but there is more to the profile than that. They have independent coding and AI projects, a technical portfolio, original software/security-type work, an advanced data/AI modeling project, and external validation from a selective tech/startup-style program.
They also have programming tutoring for younger students, project/nonprofit leadership with a youth/public-health awareness focus, competitive math/physics/programming involvement, and strong writing/humanities support through DE English and DE history. We also expect strong recommendations from English and history teachers, not just STEM teachers.
So I would describe the profile as a technical builder with broader impact, teaching, leadership, writing strength, and humanities support, not just a narrow math/computer kid.
Sports? Music? Theater? Student government? Something? This kid sounds remarkably boring and nerdy. I would not want them to be roommates with my child. It would serve them well to go to UVA and be matched up with a heavy duty frat boy to see how the other half lives.
I would make sure that essays demonstrate some level of charisma, a sense of humor, etc. I would highly suggest hiring an outside consultant because based on how you presented him, I don't think you get how the game is played.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:53
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
SAT does not make up for grades at these really selective schools.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:51
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You can apply EA everywhere. You should not do ED in UVA or UMD - because you will get in anyways. No college is getting swayed for CS/Eng/Math etc because of these credentials.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.
The bolded is what is truly important. OP has a laundry list of schools that they think are worth paying for but doesn't have deep knowledge of the regions, school environments, or likely employment paths out of these schools.
OP and kid need to stop worrying about ranking and prestige and figure out what kind of career is wanted and where in the US the kid wants to live. Do some campus tours, read some faculty bios, sort out which of the applicant's many accomplishments truly made them happy. Then come back and ask questions about how to get guaranteed acceptances to these schools.
I dont care about ranking or prestige, in fact i did not go to a top ranked school, my qustion is that is UVA ED limiting and how hard should I push my kid to do EA. And i already know career paths schools etc, i hire many college grads from both ivy, top public 50s and not.
It's not limiting if 1) your kid really wants to go to UVA and 2) the employers/career paths they are interested in are available from there.
It's a nice accomplishment to get a 1600. But it's not rare in overall terms, taken across class years, and as some have said, given that the SAT may be easier these days. That seems to be the most unique thing about your candidate, despite his overall high level of academic achievement. The APs, DEs, etc. are not that differentiating for a kid with a 1600.
This kid will certainly get into other schools. So the real questions are whether they have valid reasons for wanting UVA and whether it can deliver the desired results. If that's a decent DMV job, odds are good. To found a Y-Combinator type startup, they might as well go to California directly.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:47
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
I assume 3.8 is from a public school. What is the rank? Top 50%? How many 1560+ at their school?
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:43
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
I don't think this student should waste their ED pick on UVA, which isn't really known for engineering or CS. This student would likely be admitted for those majors at UVA in the EA round anyway.
For engineering and CS there are lots of good schools, both public and private. Obviously how each school handles ED varies. And public schools, of course, can generally only take a certain amount of OOS students, so that's something to be mindful of. But I'd start looking at the good STEM schools to see if there's a first choice school that emerges and apply ED. Though I'd check the Naviance data from your high school first to see how realistic it is. But there are tons of options from UIUC to Cornell and so on that are stronger than UVA.
For engineering and CS there are lots of good schools, both public and private. Obviously how each school handles ED varies. And public schools, of course, can generally only take a certain amount of OOS students, so that's something to be mindful of. But I'd start looking at the good STEM schools to see if there's a first choice school that emerges and apply ED. Though I'd check the Naviance data from your high school first to see how realistic it is. But there are tons of options from UIUC to Cornell and so on that are stronger than UVA.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:42
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:You can apply EA everywhere. You should not do ED in UVA or UMD - because you will get in anyways. No college is getting swayed for CS/Eng/Math etc because of these credentials.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.
The bolded is what is truly important. OP has a laundry list of schools that they think are worth paying for but doesn't have deep knowledge of the regions, school environments, or likely employment paths out of these schools.
OP and kid need to stop worrying about ranking and prestige and figure out what kind of career is wanted and where in the US the kid wants to live. Do some campus tours, read some faculty bios, sort out which of the applicant's many accomplishments truly made them happy. Then come back and ask questions about how to get guaranteed acceptances to these schools.
I dont care about ranking or prestige, in fact i did not go to a top ranked school, my qustion is that is UVA ED limiting and how hard should I push my kid to do EA. And i already know career paths schools etc, i hire many college grads from both ivy, top public 50s and not.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:35
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:You can apply EA everywhere. You should not do ED in UVA or UMD - because you will get in anyways. No college is getting swayed for CS/Eng/Math etc because of these credentials.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.
The bolded is what is truly important. OP has a laundry list of schools that they think are worth paying for but doesn't have deep knowledge of the regions, school environments, or likely employment paths out of these schools.
OP and kid need to stop worrying about ranking and prestige and figure out what kind of career is wanted and where in the US the kid wants to live. Do some campus tours, read some faculty bios, sort out which of the applicant's many accomplishments truly made them happy. Then come back and ask questions about how to get guaranteed acceptances to these schools.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:30
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
I think that people (especially on DCUM) tend to worry too much about which schools are “better” and not enough about which are “better” for a particular kid. I think most accredited schools offer more opportunities than any kid can fully take advantage of.
Some may thrive in a large school with a broad range of diverse offerings, others may prefer a smaller college that may seem more personal. Some may want Greek communities, or sports, or urban settings, or warm winters, or any number of endless variables, that another student might want to avoid like the plague. Additionally, every college has its strengths. While most colleges offer STEM majors, some may have a particular professor doing particularly interesting research in a field, or offer a specific class of interest. Moreover, there’s something to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. At a school where he may be more advanced than other students, he may get more opportunities to shine. When it comes time for professors to write recommendations or even think of someone who can help them on research, they’re looking for something beyond the fact that the student made it through admissions.
Financial savings are worth considering. I think many a student who has taken out loans in order to go to a “better” college has second-thoughts when they graduate and compare their actual salary to their loan payment. Even if you’re financially able to cover all their expenses, they might prefer to go to an in-state school on scholarship and allow them to apply the savings toward graduate school, rent on an apartment, a car, etc. AI is upending career prospects and computer science no longer offers the guaranteed employment we have come to expect.
By all means, explore other colleges. Recommend he research college websites and talk to his counselor, take him to visit various campuses, etc. I’m a firm believer in people fully understanding their options, but they should always have the option to say no. The future at stake here, is his, so the choice should be his, as well.
Some may thrive in a large school with a broad range of diverse offerings, others may prefer a smaller college that may seem more personal. Some may want Greek communities, or sports, or urban settings, or warm winters, or any number of endless variables, that another student might want to avoid like the plague. Additionally, every college has its strengths. While most colleges offer STEM majors, some may have a particular professor doing particularly interesting research in a field, or offer a specific class of interest. Moreover, there’s something to be said for being the big fish in a small pond. At a school where he may be more advanced than other students, he may get more opportunities to shine. When it comes time for professors to write recommendations or even think of someone who can help them on research, they’re looking for something beyond the fact that the student made it through admissions.
Financial savings are worth considering. I think many a student who has taken out loans in order to go to a “better” college has second-thoughts when they graduate and compare their actual salary to their loan payment. Even if you’re financially able to cover all their expenses, they might prefer to go to an in-state school on scholarship and allow them to apply the savings toward graduate school, rent on an apartment, a car, etc. AI is upending career prospects and computer science no longer offers the guaranteed employment we have come to expect.
By all means, explore other colleges. Recommend he research college websites and talk to his counselor, take him to visit various campuses, etc. I’m a firm believer in people fully understanding their options, but they should always have the option to say no. The future at stake here, is his, so the choice should be his, as well.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:28
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
MIT: 4-8%
CMU SCS: 5-10%
Stanford: 3-8%
Berkeley EECS/CS: 8-15%
Georgia Tech: 15-25%
Princeton: 5-10%
Cornell Engineering: 10-18%
UIUC CS: 10-20% direct CS, higher for CS+X/math/engineering
Michigan: 20-35%
Purdue: 35-55%
Penn Engineering: 6-12%
Columbia Engineering: 6-12%
Duke: 10-20%
Rice: 10-20%
UVA: 45-60%
These numbers are estimates based on your DC's profile? AI generated?
Yes, the AI analysis used a mix of:
Official admissions pages
Common Data Sets
Published SAT/GPA/class profile data
CS/engineering ranking sources
School-specific CS/engineering department pages
Cost of attendance and merit aid pages
Early Action/Early Decision policy pages
Public applicant/outcome discussions from sites like Reddit and College Confidential-style forums
The full student profile I provided: GPA, 1600 SAT, rigor, AP/DE/college coursework, upward junior-year trend, CS/AI projects, tutoring, leadership, and recommendations
So it was not just a random guess. It was a planning estimate based on the full profile plus public admissions/ranking/context data.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:27
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Naviance data? Similar profiles from your school 3.8/1600/rigor?? What does Naviance tell you?
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:25
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:
MIT: 4-8%
CMU SCS: 5-10%
Stanford: 3-8%
Berkeley EECS/CS: 8-15%
Georgia Tech: 15-25%
Princeton: 5-10%
Cornell Engineering: 10-18%
UIUC CS: 10-20% direct CS, higher for CS+X/math/engineering
Michigan: 20-35%
Purdue: 35-55%
Penn Engineering: 6-12%
Columbia Engineering: 6-12%
Duke: 10-20%
Rice: 10-20%
UVA: 45-60%
These numbers are estimates based on your DC's profile? AI generated?
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:23
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:You can apply EA everywhere. You should not do ED in UVA or UMD - because you will get in anyways. No college is getting swayed for CS/Eng/Math etc because of these credentials.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.
I did ask that exact question: what can another college do for a CS/AI kid that UVA or UMD cannot?
The answer was not that UVA or UMD are weak. They are both strong and can absolutely lead to great outcomes. The point was that, for CS/AI specifically, some schools may offer a stronger technical peer group, deeper CS/AI ecosystem, stronger recruiting pull, more research density, or a more intense builder/startup culture. That is why I am hesitant about UVA ED. UVA EA keeps UVA open without closing the door on schools that may be stronger for this specific path.
Here is the AI-generated top CS/AI list with rough estimated chances for this profile:
MIT: 4-8%
Carnegie Mellon SCS: 5-10%
Stanford: 3-8%
Berkeley EECS/CS: 8-15%
Georgia Tech: 15-25%
Princeton: 5-10%
Cornell Engineering/CS: 10-18%
UIUC direct CS: 10-20%
UIUC CS+X / math / engineering: 20-35%
Caltech: 3-7%
UT Austin CS: 5-12% OOS
University of Washington CS: 5-12% OOS
Harvard: 3-7%
UCSD CS: 15-25%
Michigan CS/Engineering: 20-35%
UCLA CS: 10-20% OOS
Columbia Engineering: 6-12%
Penn Engineering: 6-12%
Purdue CS/Engineering: 35-55%
Wisconsin CS: 30-45%
USC CS: 15-25%
Maryland CS: 35-50%
Johns Hopkins CS: 10-18%
Yale CS: 3-7%
Duke CS/Engineering: 10-20%
Rice CS/Engineering: 10-20%
Northwestern CS: 10-20%
Brown CS: 5-10%
NYU Courant/Tandon CS: 15-30%
Harvey Mudd: 10-20%
Northeastern CS: 20-35%
Virginia Tech CS/Engineering: 75-85%
UVA CS/Engineering: 40-60%
Ohio State CS/Engineering: 50-70%
Minnesota CS: 45-65%
Texas A&M Engineering/CS: 35-55%
UC Irvine CS: 20-35% OOS
UC Davis CS: 25-40% OOS
UC Santa Barbara CS: 20-35% OOS
UMass Amherst CS: 30-50%
Colorado Boulder CS/Engineering: 50-70%
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:22
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I would not ED any college. I would EA my top 6 colleges, including the instate college as well as ...UMD.
Sorry, UMD trumps UVA.
In terms of the major he wants to do, what matters is internships every year and good grades in college. CS is one major where knowledge matters, and not the brandname.
My 2 cents - with an Asian American male student of my own with pretty similar academic results and some pretty impressive ECs... UMD (we are instate) helped him get a dual major, he saved a lot of money, earned a lot of money, got a well paying first job on the other coast, and his mental health remained great being close to home.
He managed to get an equally amazing serious girlfriend, managed to travel abroad each year with his group of friends, has a great professional network, has zero student debt (merit + mom-dad), has a healthy Roth and investment fund.
Get college education by spending the least amount of money that you can.
Totally agree UMD is strong, and yes, on paper UMD CS may rank higher than UVA or Virginia Tech.
But for us as a Virginia family, if we are paying out-of-state public pricing, I think the school needs to feel like a much clearer jump over our in-state options. The OOS publics that make more sense to us would be:
Georgia Tech, UIUC, Michigan, Berkeley, Purdue, maybe Wisconsin, maybe UT Austin if that were realistic.
Those feel more like the kind of public CS/engineering programs where the OOS premium may be worth comparing against UVA/VT. UMD is excellent, but I do not see it as enough of a jump for our situation unless there were major merit or a very specific reason.
Also, my kid wants to get out of the DMV area and is not that excited about UMD, partly because they are already so familiar with that area and doesn't like the vibe.
NP. We are a NOVA family. Son is a rising senior CS major at UMD. Receives some merit. With merit, UMD OOS is maginally more expensive than UVA engineering in state. GA tech and Purdue are reasonable OOS too
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:20
Subject: 1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
Anonymous wrote:Below a 4.4 is not a lock at UVA. The rigor will likely make up for it. But just keep that in mind.
Yes, that was part of the analysis. The GPA is the weaker piece: about 3.8 UW / estimated 4.35-4.5 W, which is not a lock for UVA, especially from NOVA and for CS/engineering.
But the SAT is the opposite side of the profile. UVA’s middle 50% SAT is roughly 1410-1540, so a 1600 is above their typical enrolled range. The analysis took both into account: below the strongest GPA profile for UVA, but above the SAT range, with unusual rigor, advanced college math/CS, an upward junior-year trend, and a technical/builder profile.
So I would read it as: not a UVA lock, but also not an automatic reject. The question is whether UVA ED is smart when UVA EA keeps UVA open without closing off Georgia Tech, Purdue, UIUC, Michigan, Cornell Engineering, CMU, MIT, etc.
Anonymous
06/06/2026 20:17
Subject: Re:1600 SAT, 10 APs, 5 DEs, 5 college math/CS courses. Kid wants UVA ED, but I think they can aim higher?
You can apply EA everywhere. You should not do ED in UVA or UMD - because you will get in anyways. No college is getting swayed for CS/Eng/Math etc because of these credentials.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.
A good question to ask is - what can any college do for him that UVA (or UMD) cannot.
Ask AI to give you the top 40 undergrad colleges for CS and AI.